{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/130202"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/130202","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"Wear-resistant thermal interface material (TIM) for quad/octal small form factor pluggable (QSFP/OSFP) modules","abstract":"Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'Closed Access', the embargo will last until 2027-08-01","abstract_html":"Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'Closed Access', the embargo will last until 2027-08-01","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Patil, Parth Sandip"],"institution":"University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"M.S.","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Mechanical Engineering","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Sinha, Sanjiv"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2025,"date_issued":"2025-07-21","date_published":"2025-07-21","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:06Z","subjects":["Thermal Interface Material","Diamond Like Carbon","Osfp/qsfp Modules","Fabrication","Thermal Contact Resistance","Interface","Mechanical Characterization","Thermal Characterization","Silver Dendrites"],"languages":["en","eng"],"rights":["Copyright 2025 Parth Sandip Patil"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/2142/130202","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Sinha, Sanjiv"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Patil, Parth Sandip"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2025-07-21","2025-08"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Mechanical Engineering"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["M.S."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Thermal Interface Material","Diamond Like Carbon","Osfp/qsfp Modules","Fabrication","Thermal Contact Resistance","Interface","Mechanical Characterization","Thermal Characterization","Silver Dendrites"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en","eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2025 Parth Sandip Patil"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/2142/130202"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'Closed Access', the embargo will last until 2027-08-01","The student, Parth Sandip Patil, accepted the attached license on 2025-07-17 at 10:34.","The student, Parth Sandip Patil, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2025-07-17 at 10:48.","This Thesis was approved for publication on 2025-07-21 at 09:37.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #22622 on 2025-10-25 at 15:54:15","The rapid growth in data throughput and power density in the optical transceiver modules used in modern data centers presents challenges to thermal management that are fast becoming a critical bottleneck for the future. A unique aspect of this thermal management challenge is the development of novel wear-resistant thermal interface materials (TIMs) for pluggable modules that can withstand multiple (>200) insertion/removal events. This thesis presents the design, fabrication, and simulation of a composite TIM comprising diamond-like carbon (DLC) thin-film infilled with patterned silver. The proposed TIM is specifically engineered to simultaneously satisfy the requirements of a relatively high thermal conductivity and high wear resistance and shear strength. We discuss a customized process for a prototype TIM. Materials characterization reveals a hardness of ~21.3 , at a hydrogen content of 30−45%, as well as favorable tribological properties, including low friction and superior wear resistance. Steady-state finite-volume simulations of heat conduction using the ANSYS software show that the effective thermal contact resistance using the TIM ranges from 6.6×10^−4 − 3.3×10^-3 ²/, depending on the fraction of silver coverage. The simulated effective thermal conductivity of the system was found to be between 3 − 16 / confirming its potential to outperform many state-of-the-art TIMs. This work offers a compelling solution for integrating advanced TIMs into next-generation data center optical modules, satisfying both thermal and mechanical requirements."]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Wear-resistant thermal interface material (TIM) for quad/octal small form factor pluggable (QSFP/OSFP) modules"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Sinha, Sanjiv"],"dc:creator":["Patil, Parth Sandip"],"dc:date":["2025-07-21","2025-08"],"dc:description":["Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'Closed Access', the embargo will last until 2027-08-01","The student, Parth Sandip Patil, accepted the attached license on 2025-07-17 at 10:34.","The student, Parth Sandip Patil, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2025-07-17 at 10:48.","This Thesis was approved for publication on 2025-07-21 at 09:37.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #22622 on 2025-10-25 at 15:54:15","The rapid growth in data throughput and power density in the optical transceiver modules used in modern data centers presents challenges to thermal management that are fast becoming a critical bottleneck for the future. A unique aspect of this thermal management challenge is the development of novel wear-resistant thermal interface materials (TIMs) for pluggable modules that can withstand multiple (>200) insertion/removal events. This thesis presents the design, fabrication, and simulation of a composite TIM comprising diamond-like carbon (DLC) thin-film infilled with patterned silver. The proposed TIM is specifically engineered to simultaneously satisfy the requirements of a relatively high thermal conductivity and high wear resistance and shear strength. We discuss a customized process for a prototype TIM. Materials characterization reveals a hardness of ~21.3 , at a hydrogen content of 30−45%, as well as favorable tribological properties, including low friction and superior wear resistance. Steady-state finite-volume simulations of heat conduction using the ANSYS software show that the effective thermal contact resistance using the TIM ranges from 6.6×10^−4 − 3.3×10^-3 ²/, depending on the fraction of silver coverage. The simulated effective thermal conductivity of the system was found to be between 3 − 16 / confirming its potential to outperform many state-of-the-art TIMs. This work offers a compelling solution for integrating advanced TIMs into next-generation data center optical modules, satisfying both thermal and mechanical requirements."],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["https://hdl.handle.net/2142/130202"],"dc:language":["en","eng"],"dc:rights":["Copyright 2025 Parth Sandip Patil"],"dc:subject":["Thermal Interface Material","Diamond Like Carbon","Osfp/qsfp Modules","Fabrication","Thermal Contact Resistance","Interface","Mechanical Characterization","Thermal Characterization","Silver Dendrites"],"dc:title":["Wear-resistant thermal interface material (TIM) for quad/octal small form factor pluggable (QSFP/OSFP) modules"],"dc:type":["text"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Mechanical Engineering"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["M.S."],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:06Z"}